Oil-vapor generator



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.1. R. SHANNON 011,4 VAPOR GENERATOR Filed Jan.l 14,

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J. R. SHANNON on. VAPOR GENERATR Filed Jan. 14, 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented Dec. 23, 1924.

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JOHN R. SHANNON, OF LOWELL, ARIZONA.

GIL-'VAPOR GENERATOR.

Application filed January 14,v 1922. Serial No. 529,243.

To all wwm t may concern.:

Be it known that I, JOHN R. SHANNON, a citizen of the United States, residin(lr at Lowell,l in the county of Cochise and State of Arizona-have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oil-Vapor Generators, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to means for generating vapor from oil, and particularly to means for generating vapor for use in internal combustion engines from crude oil.

The general object of this invention is to provide means which may be easily fitted to and easily placed in association with any internal combustion engine and the carbureter therefor, whereby the exhaust heat from the engine is used for the purpose of vaporizing the crude oil by passing this exhaust heat through a body of the oil contained in what may be termed the boiler and using the vapor thus'generated which is under pressure as a means for injecting the mixture of crude oil and water into the boiler or heater.

A further object is to provide means whereby the vapor in the generator may be purified by its passage through the carbureter.

Still another object is to provide an improved form of vapor generator in which the boiler or oil container is provided with a plurality of flues extending through the boiler, through which flues the exhaust passes.

Another object is to provide a construction of this character wherein a oat valve in an oil tank is used to control the flow of vapor to the injector, whereby the cool oil and water are fed into the boiler or generator.

Still another object is to provide an improved form of regulating valve for controlling the feed of the vapor to the carbureter.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a generator constructed in accordance with my invention, the regulating valve and the carbureter being shown in elevation;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary vertical section of the oil and water container showing the float whereby the'vapor valve is controlled;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view the regulating valve;

Figure 41 is a longitudinal sectional view of the injector; I

Figure 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the check valve controlling flow into the tubular boiler` or heater.

Referring to these drawings, 10 designates a casing constituting a boiler or heater closed at its upper and -lower ends and through which extend the Hues 11 in the usual manner of a fire tube boiler. The space within the casing and surrounding the lines 11 is intended to be filled with crude oil. Above the casing 10 is a substantially conical head 12 into which theupper ends of the flues or fire tubes 11 open, and below the boiler 10 is a head 13 int-o which the. lower ends of the fire tubes 11 open, this head 13 being connected to a fire or exhaust pipe 14. Communicating with the upper end of the head 12 is an exhaust pipe 15 leading from the exhaust of thel engine. The contracted mouth of the head 12 where it opens into the exhaust pipe 15 is provided with a valve 16 of any usual or suitable form controlled by a manually operable rod 17 whereby all or any desired proportion of the exhaust gases may be directed into the head 12 and so through the flues 11. When this valve is entirely closed, all of the exhaust gases will pass along the pipe 15 and none of the exhaust gases will be discharged into the head 12 and into the boiler. When thevalve is entirely open, of course, all of the exhaust gases will pass through the boiler. The pipe 15 may be considered to be the usual exhaust pipe leading from an internal combustion engine. k95

Disposed to one side of the boiler shell 10 and extending vertically is a tank 18 for heated oil, which is connected by a duct 19 at its lower end to the lower end of the boiler 10 so that the oil within the casing 18 stands at the same level as the oil within the casing 10, except for the fact that there is vapor under pressure in the upper end of the tank 18 which will, to a certain extent, depress the level of the oil in the tank 1 l For the purpose of feeding crude oil and water into the boiler 10, l provide a feed pipe 20 which leads into the boiler, as illustrated in Figure 17 and is provided with a check valve 21, this check valve preventing flow from the-boiler l0 into the pipe 2O but iow from the pipe 2O into the The pipe 20, as illustrated in Figure 4, connects with an injector shown as including the two conical nozzles 22 and 23, the nozzle 22 extending into the butt end oi' the nozzle 23 and the nozzle 23 extending into a pipe section 24 which is coupled to the pipe section 20 by means of a coupling Surrounding the nozzle 22 is a chamber 26, and a relatively small water pipe 27 opens into this chamber 26. The large end of the nozzle 23 is formed with an annular chamber 28 into which an oil pipe 29 opens, this annular chamber having perorations 30 opening into the nozzle. The large end of the nozzle 22 is connected by means oit a pipe 31 with the upper end or' the tank 18, as illustrated in Figure 2. This pipe 31 adjacent its upper end is formed with a valve seat 33, and coacting with this seat is a longitudinally shiftable valve 34 having a stem 35 extending through a suitable stuffing box 36 into the upper end of the tank 18 and being there engaged by a cam-shaped protuberance 37 on a lever 38. This lever 38 is pivoted at 39 and has connected to its ree end the float 40, the float having upwardly extending ears 41 and the lever being slotted for the pin 42 which passes through the ears 41 and through the slot of the lever.

Tt will be obvious now that when the level of the oil within the tank 18 lowers, the valve will be opened, and that when this level rises, the valve will be closed. Disposed within the hollow head or chamber 12 is a pipe coil 43 through which and around which the hot exhaust vapors pass, this pipe coil being connected by one end 44 tothe upper end of the tank 10 and the other end of this pipe coil being extended, as at 45, out of the head 12 and downward through a casing 46 and discharging at its lower end into the lower end of this casing 46. Disposed within the casing 46 are a series of oxide trays 47 which support oxide of iron and act to clean and purify the vapor as it passes upward through the plates, and mounted upon the upper end or the casing 46 is a vapor tank 48. The upper end of the casing 46 opens into this vapor container 48 through the valve casing 49, and disposed within this valve casing is the check valve 56 which permits the escape ol vapor into the vapor container 48 but prevents the return of the gas into the purifier casing 46. Leading from the gas container 48 is a pipe 51 which opens into the upper end of the tank 18. The container 48 and the tank 18 are braced from the casing 10 by braces 10.

From the vapor container 48 leads a discharge pipe 52 which opens into a regulating valve casing, designated generally 53. This regulating valve casing has therein the slide valve 54, which in one position is adapted to uncover the outlet pipe 55 and permitting boiler 10.

in another position is adapted to close or partially close this pipe 55. The valve 54 has a stem 56 which extends out through the end of the casing and is connected to a lever 57. Surrounding this stem is a coiled spring 58 which urges the valve toits closed position. The lever 57 is pivoted upon a bracket 59 extending from the casing. The travel ot the valve 54 to its closed position is adapted to be adjustably limited by means of the adjustable stop screw 60 extending through the end of the casing and held in adjusted position by means of the set nut 61.

The lever 57 is connected to the accelerator rod 62 which is manually operable to control the movement of said valve and thereby control the flow orP gas from the regulating valve casing by means of pipe 63 to the carbureter 64. This carbureter may be oit any suitable or usual type. From the carbureter,

the charge flows to the intake manifold of the engine.

The operation of this construction is as follows: The oil contained within the boiler 10 is highly heated by the exhaust gases passing through the lire tubes 11. A certain portion of the oil becomes vaporized and this vapor rises through the coil 43, where it is still more highly heated by the exhaust gases, then passes down to the lower end of the purifying chamber 46. The oxide of iron on the trays 47 acts to remove the sulphur present in the vapor and purifies the vapor. Other purifying agents beside oxide of iron, may of course, be disposed upon these perforated or oraminated trays. The vapor within the vapor container 48 is at a relatively high pressure, due to the vaporizing heat to which it has been subjected, and part of this vapor is conducted into the regulating valve casing 53, and the remainder of the vapor under pressure is conducted by pipe 51 into the upper end of tank 18, which also contains heated oil. lf the level of the oil descends, the float 40 will descend and this will cause the opening of valve 34 and the vapor under pressure will pass by means of pipe 31 to the injector, causing the injection of oil and water into the boiler 10. As soon as the oil and water within the boiler 1() and the tank 18 have risen a predetermined degree, the valve 35 will close, cutting off the supply of vapor under pressure to the injector and thereby stopping the feed of water and oil to the boiler. It will be understood, of course, that the vapor from the vapor container 48 will collect in the upper portion of the tank 18 and thus pressure will be transmitted to the column of liquid within the tank 18 and to the column of liquid within the boiler 10, causing the upward iiow of the liquid into the vaporizing coils 43.

The construction which I have described herewith is particularly eective in using crude oil, though I do not wish to be limited to such isc, and it permits crude oil to be vaporized and used in internal combustion engines and mav be readilTv used in conjuno tion with the usual exhaust pipe of a motor car and the usual carburetor. lt will be obvious that 1 'have illustrated vthe general arrangement of the parts in Figure l some what diagrammatically, as this arrangement may be varied in many ways and, of course, the proportions of the parts may be changed. By the construction, l provide for vaporizingcrude oil and water and provide for a forced feed of the oil and water into the boiler against the pressure therein. The oil, and water flow preferably by gravity to the pipes 27 and 29 from suitable oil and water tanks. Passing through the injector, the oil and water are thoroughly mixed. Of course, only a very small amount of water is admixed with the oil, just enough to insure perfect combustion. The initial starting of the engine may be secured by using gasoline or other relatively volatile fuel in the usual manner until the exhaust gases travcling through the exhaust pipe 15 are hot enough to vaporize the oil, as before described. At this time the valve 16 may be opened to deflect the hot exhaust gases downward through the head l2, through the pipes or fines ll, and through the head 13' and pipe 14.

l. claim l. An oil vapor generator of the character described including a boiler, hollow heads disposed at opposite ends of the boiler, lire tu` es extending through the boiler and communicating with the inte-rior of said heads, an exhaust pipe connected to one of said heads. a vaporizing coil disposed within the ast named head and operatively connected at one end to the upper end of the boiler, a vapor container into which the vapor passes from said coil, a tank operatively connected at its lower end to the lower end ofthe boiler, a float in the upper end of said tank, an injector connected to a source of oil and discharging' into the boiler, means for conducting` vapor from the vapor container to the injector, a valve for controlling the flow of vapor to the injector', and a `float disposed in said tank closing said valve when the oil level in the tank has risen beyond a predetermined degree and opening said valve upon the lowering of the level below a predetermined degree.

2. A vapor generator of the character described Comprising' a boiler, lire tubes extending through the boiler, hollow heads in opposite ends of the boiler intowhich the lire tubes open, an exhaust pipe connected to and discharging into one of said heads, a vaporizing coil connected at one end to the upper end of the boiler and disposed within said last named head, a purifying chamber lend of the boiler into which said coil discharges, a vapor container into which the purifying chamber discharges, a discharge pipe leading from the vapor container and having a controlling valve, an oil tank associated with the boiler and communicating at its lower end therewith whereby the level of oil in the tank and boiler will, be approximately the same, a pipe leading from said vapor container into the upper end of the tank, an injector connected to a source of oil and discharging into the boiler, a pipe leading from the upper end of said oil tank to the injector and carrying vapor from the upper end of the oil tank to theV injector, a valve controlling the passage of vapor to the injector, and a float disposed in the tank and controlling the movement ofthe valve.

3. A generator of the character described comprising an exhaust heated boiler, an exhaust heated vaporizing coil connected to the boiler, a purifying chamber into the lower end of which the coil discharges and having a series of foraminous trays oontaining purifying material, a vapor containing chamber into which the purifying chamber discharges, a discharge pipe extending from said chamber, a regulating valve controlling the flow from the discharge pipe, a tank extending parallel to the boiler and communicating at its lower end therewith j whereby the level of liquid in the tank is approximately the same as that in the boiler,

a vapor pipe leading from the upper end of the vapor container to the upper end of said tank, an injector leading into the boiler and connected to a source of oil and a source of water, a vapor pipe leading from the upper end of the tank above the level of liquid therein and into said injector, a valve controlling the llow through said last named pipe, land a oat in the tank controlling the opening of said valve.

t. 1n an oil vapor generator, a purifying chamber having a series of perforated trays having purifying chemicals thereon, a boiler, means for conducting vapor from the upper into the lower end of the purifying chamber, a vapor collecting chamber into which the purifying chamber discharges, an injector discharging into the boiler and connected to a source of water and oil, means for causing the operation of said injector through the pressure of the vapor within the collecting chamber, and means automatically acting to cause the operation of the injector upon the lowering of the level of oil within the boiler and preventing the operation of the injector upon the predetermined rise in level.

5. A vapor generator for internal combustion engines comprising a boiler, hollow heads on the ends of the boiler, lire tubes extending through the boiler and communicating with said heads, an exhaust gas pipe cou'ununicating with onel oit said heads, a valve for controlling the passage of the eX- haust gases from said pipe into said last named head, a Vaporizing coil disposed in the last named head and connected to the upper end of the boiler, a purifying' chamber into which said coil discharges, a vapor containing chamber into which the purifying chamber discharges, a tank associated with the boiler and communicating at its tower end with the lower end of the boiler, a Vapor pipe leading' from said Vapor containing chamber to the upper end of said tank, an injector discharging into the lower end of the boiler and connected to a source of oil, a, Vapor pipe leading from the upper end of the tank to said injector, a float in the upper end of the tank, a valve controlling the passage or' Vapor through the Vapor pipe and controlled by said float, a service pipe leading from said vapor container, a regulating valve controlling the passage of Vapor from the service pipe, and a carbureter through which the vapor so regulated is discharged ln testimony whereof hereunto afx my signature.

JOHN SHANNON. 

